Articulated boom



May 26, 1953 D. P. WELDEN ARTICULATED BOOM Filed April 10, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 David R Walden INVENTOR.

May 26, 1953 D. P. WELDEN 2,639,826

ARTICULATED BOOM Filed April 10, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig- 2 David I? Walden IN V EN TOR.

Patented May 26, 1953 a. 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTICULATED BOOM David P. Welden, Iowa Falls, Iowa Application April 10, 1950, Serial No. 155,076

1 Claim.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in booms and the primary object of the present invention is to provide a boom whereby a load can be lifted directly by the end of the boom so that the boom may be utilized for loading or unloading material usually requiring several men.

Another very important object of the present invention is to provide a flexible boom composed of a plurality of swinging sections together'with hydraulically operated means controlled by a single operator for selectively swinging the sections.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a boom adapted for mountingupon a tractor or crane and which includes a grapple or digging means for effectively gripping, raising, moving and discharging material. v I

A further object of the present invention is to provide a flexible boom that is composed of few relatively movable or swingable sections that are independently swung depending upon the position of the material to be'moved with respect to a supporting structure on which the boom is mounted. I a

A still further aim of the present invention is to provide a flexible boom that is simple and practical in construction, strong and reliable in use, efiicient and durable in operation, inexpensive to manufacture, and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the present boom applied to a tractor and with dotted lines showing the boom lowered to grip material;

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the swinging movement of the various parts forming the boom; and,

Figure 4 is an enlarged view taken substantially on the plane of section line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration, there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the numeral l represents the inner section of the boom composed of a pair of spaced parallel tubular beams l2 and I4 havingtheir ends joined by upper and lower horizontal pivots or shafts l5 and I8.

An anchor plate mounted on a tractor 22 2 is provided with a pair of upstanding cars .24 that receive the ends of the shaft l8 to permit vertical swinging movement of the beams l2, l4 about the shaft 18. The ends of the shaft l6 project laterally from the beams I2, l4 and support the forward ends of a pair of straps 26 whose rear ends support a further shaft 28 on which there is rotatably supported a pair of sheaves 30 and 32 about which there are trained cables 34 and 36 for raising or lowering the section It] about the pivot l8.

A pulley 38 is mounted on the shaft [8 for rotation and is located between the beams l2 and 7 [4. A flexible element 40 is trained over the pulley 38 and its ends are attached to the beam l2 and are placed about rollers 39 and 4| on piston rods 42 and 44 that form part of jack cylinders 46 and 48. The jack cylinders 46 and 48 .are mounted on the beam I2 by any suitable means and are employed for rotating the pulley 38 and for retaining the pulley 38 in a selectedrotated position in a manner later to be more fully .described.

An intermediate section 50 is supported solely by the pulley 38 for rotation therewith and includes a pair of tubular arms 52 and 54 that are rigidly secured to opposite faces of the pulley 38 by rivets or the like. The outer ends of the arms 52 and 54 support a horizontal pivot or shaft 56 on which there is rotatably supported a pulley 58.

A flexible element 60 is trained about the pulley 58 and its ends are trained about rollers 62 and 64 at the ends of piston rods 66 and 68. The rods 66 and 68 form part of jack cylinders 10 and 12 that are suitably mounted on the section 50 for rotating the pulley 58 and for retaining the pulley 58 in a selected rotated position about the shaft 56.

An outer section 14 is supported solely by the pulley 58 and includes a pair of parallel, hollow arms 16 and 18 to which there is fixedly secured a transverse jaw 80. The outer ends of the arms 16, 18 support another horizontal shaft 82 on which there is pivoted a second jaw 84 that is movable toward and away from the jaw 80.

A further jack cylinder 86 is pivotally mounted on the outer section 14 and includes a piston rod 88 that is pivoted to an arm 90. The arm 90 projects from a sleeve 92 that is secured to the jaw 84 and which receives the shaft 82.

Each of the cylinders 46, 48, l0, l2 and 8B are provided with a pair of combined inlet and outlet ports that are connected to a suitable pump on the tractor 22. The flow of fluid into the cylinders 46 and 48 is controlled by a single valve, however, the cylinders 46 and 48 are so connected that the rod 42 will move outwardly from the cylinder 46 as the rod 44 is moved into the cylinder 48 and vice versa so that the cable 40 will remain in tension to efiect a rotation of the pulley 38.

The jack cylinders and 72 are likewise associated with a single valvethat controls the flow of fluid into the cylinders Hi and 12. The cylinders 70 and 12 are operatively connected so that as the rod '65 moves outwardly from its cylinder 10 the rod 68 moves into its cylinder 12 and vice versa, to retain the cable 50 in tension as the pulley 58 is rotated about, the

shaft 56.

The flow of fluid into the cylinder 1%- is controlled by a valve so that the rod 88 may be 4 end portions; a horizontal shaft mounted on the outer end portions of said beams; a pulley journaled for rotation on said shaft; first and second parallel jack cylinders mounted on the beams adjacent the pulley and including piston rods movable outwardly from the cylinders toward the inner end portions of the beams; rollers carried by the outer ends of the piston rods; ,a cable trained-over the pulleyf and the rollers and dead ended jfto the cyl'indersymeans operativ'ely connected to the cylinders for extending the piston rod of one cylinder while retractselectively mounted into or out of the cylinder 86 to move the jaw 89. away from or toward the jaw 80.

The valves for the jack cylinders are mounted on a common panel or board 94 that is supported on the tractor 22. One of these valves is indicated by the numeral 96 in Figure l. The valves are manually operated and are located on the tractor so that the tractor operator can easily actuate the valves to efiect a swinging vof the sections 50 and 14 about their pivots I6 audit, and a movement of the jaw 84 with respect to the jaw 80.

The cables as and 36 extend to a suitable winch on the tractor and the winch is rotated by the tractor power plant. The direction the winch is rotated is regulated by a hand leverL forming part of the tractor and located close to the panel 524. Since the cables 34, 35 and the means for moving cables, constitute well known parts of a tractor a more detailed showing and description thereof is not made.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A flexible boom comprising a pair of vertically swingable, spaced parallel beams having outer ing the piston rod of the other cylinder to rotate the pulley; a pair of spaced parallel arms secured to and rotatable with the pulley and having outer ends; a second horizontal shaft carried bytheouter ends of said arms; a second pulley mounted on said second shaft; a grapple secured to said second pulley and rotatable there- References Cited in the=file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS" z p Date Number Name 105,883 Bailey ,A ug. 2, 1870 1,603,573 Baker 0ct. 19,1926 1,773,478 Dovel Aug. 19,1930

- 2,109,388 Heller Febr22, 1938 2,411,498 V Billings -NOVl 26, 1946 2,418,299 Gorsuch h Apl'Ql, 1.947 2,489,898

Kluckhohn Nov. 29,1949 

